User:Bradv/sandbox/Derrick Barnes

Derrick Barnes is an award-winning American author. He is known for writing several popular series of children's books, and is a staff writer for Hallmark greeting cards. In 2018 Barnes received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Award, and the Kirkus Prize for his book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut.

Biography
Barnes grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. After graduating from Jackson State University with a degree in Marketing, he began his writing career in 1999 as the first black male copywriter for Hallmark. In 2003, he left Hallmark and moved to New Orleans, where he worked a variety of jobs before signing a multi-book deal with children's book publisher Scholastic. Barnes, his wife Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons currently reside in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Barnes is the author of the children's book series Ruby and the Booker Boys, and the books Stop Drop and Chill and The Low Down Bad Day Blues, all published by Scholastic. He also wrote the hardcover novel We Could Be Brothers, published by Sankofa Books.

Barnes' best known work is Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, illustrated by Gordon C. James. Crown was well received, featuring at the 2018 ALA Youth Media Awards and winning several awards including a 2018 Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Award (for both author and illustrator), a Caldecott Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award (writer and illustrator), and the $50,000 Kirkus Prize.